What Was the Closest Presidential Election?

The 1960 presidential race between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon was the closest presidential election in U.S. history in terms of the popular vote and the electoral college votes. Kennedy won the race by 0.1 percent, a victory that was not announced until noon the next day.

There were several other presidential races that were also extremely close. In 2000, the race between Al Gore and George W. Bush was decided in favor of Bush by the electoral college of a single state and just a few hundred popular votes. In 1876, Rutherford B. Hayes lost the popular vote to Samuel J. Tilden but won the electoral college vote and was subsequently elected.